Crab

In his cookbook, John Martin Taylor suggests baking and serving the deviled crabmeat in crab backs (shells), a presentation he learned from Alice Marks, one of Charleston's great cooks. But since most people purchase their crabmeat already picked from the shell, we baked our deviled crab in store-bought scallop shells instead. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 50 min

"Athens, Georgia, has a great restaurant called The Basil Press," writes Linda Buchman of Hilton Head, South Carolina. "During my last visit there, chef Andrew Urell prepared an angel hair pasta with curried crab and shrimp. I'd love to try making it at home." At the restaurant, this is served as a side dish for grilled salmon.

Dottie Stubel of Marietta, Georgia, writes: "While on a trip to Hilton Head Island, my husband and I ate at the Spartina Grill. Everything was phenomenal, but we especially enjoyed the tomato-crab bisque." Chunks of fresh crab make an elegant garnish for this rich soup.

The oil-free dressing is delightfully tangy.

From the Bay View Restaurant at The Inn at the Tides, where these cakes are served with a chopped tomato and basil salad.

Masa Harina is an ingenious addition to these savory shellfish cakes from chef George Mahaffey of The Restaurant at The Little Nell in Aspen.

Low-fat buttermilk and nonfat yogurt provide the base in a refreshing, tangy soup.

Joe Martin was both a hero and a mentor to me. He was an old-fashioned New Orleans kitchen guy who never had national fame as a chef, but he could cook better than a lot of household names. Not only that, he was a great teacher, developing an army of everyday workers who were the backbone of good food served all over town. The funny thing is, for all the people he taught, he never wrote down his best dishes. He used to make this one hunched over like it was a big secret. I pieced the recipe together from some of the guys he taught. Joe, if you're looking down on this dish from someplace where the work isn't so hard, I hope you don't think we're leaving something out!

The secret to the crisp coating in this recipe? Crushed potato chips.

Kevin Graham, of Graham's in New Orleans, occasionally adds a Parmesan sauce to go with the tomato cream.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A narrow strip of land at the southwestern tip of India, the state of Kerala is interlaced with a network of lagoons, canals, lakes, and rivers. Peddlers sell fish from these waters and other food by boat along the canals. This curry is styled after the ones these boatmen cook for themselves. It incorporates many ingredients of the Kerala kitchen: black peppercorns, fiery red chiles, mustard seeds, and the ubiquitous coconut. In India they toss about 20 fresh curry leaves into the kettle along with the onion, garlic, gingerroot, chiles, and peppercorns. These aromatic leaves can be difficult to find in the U.S., but if you locate some, by all means use them.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Pasta, a recent addition to the Irish culinary repertoire, is fast becoming a favorite. At Longueville House in Mallow, Ireland, ravioli is taken to refined heights in this dish, which is served as an appetizer. They make it with large rounds of homemade pasta, but store-bought gyoza wrappers are a good substitute.

Accompany these with your favorite purchased or homemade tartar sauce.